Adolescent Suicide Prevention and Intervention: A Multi-Tier Systems of Support Model for Schools

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among adolescents in the U.S. and a major public health problem. Because adolescents spend much of their time in schools, and because school personnel have regular and frequent contact with them, schools are uniquely and ideally positioned to spearhead efforts in adolescent suicide prevention and intervention. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a public health framework for how high schools can promote effective adolescent suicide prevention and intervention through the implementation of multi-tier systems of support (MTSS). Widely used to prevent and remediate a variety of academic and behavior problems in schools, an MTSS model incorporates three distinct but overlapping tiers, including tier 1 (for all students), tier 2 (for at-risk students), and tier 3 (for students currently exhibiting problems). This chapter will provide an introduction and overview for how an MTSS framework can be implemented for adolescent suicide prevention and intervention in schools. Recent research advances in this area are discussed.